Develop Reference

React/Redux - When to use state and props / when to change props

My current understanding of mapStateToProps() is to map the currently set Redux store to any prop you want set within a component. I also know that props are variables that are passed to the component andstate` within the component is just a concurrent group of variables that are being utilized.
What is confusing me is that I am seeing on many sites/docs that you should never change the props.. Surely mapStateToProps() is physically changing the components props and goes against this ethos?
Here's a scenario, say we are wanting to show a loading symbol while some backend process is being run, I can create a dispatch that will set IS_LOADING= True, if I wanted to apply this value to show the loader in my component I would apply this to a prop loading in the component, however when the component first loads wouldn't it error on running mapStateToProps() as state.loading does not exist yet?

What is confusing me is that I am seeing on many sites/docs that you should never change the props
That means you should not change props from inside component. The idea is that parent creates props for the child. If props change components rerenders.
however when the component first loads wouldn't it error on running mapStateToProps() as state.loading does not exist yet?
It should not happen if you configure your store properly. Store is created on the top level, so when your child component initializes store is already present. So you have to configure your initial state properly. E. g. set initial isLoading value to false.

Proper use of state in React

I am new to React and a bit struggling with state in React and how and where we need to use it. So far, I found out that "If modifying a piece of data does not visually change the component, that data shouldn’t go into state". So, state is all about re-rendering the UI(I hope I am correct). So, the question I want to ask is Is it true that we use state only for re-rendering the UI only?, nothing else and nothing more?

You can use state in your class components. State is like private data of your component that may change by action made by user.
State is immutable. This means you can not change state directly in following way this.state.someVal = "smth". The only way to change state is using this.setState() method.
When you change state value React automatically re-renders your component without refreshing the page. In other words React.js reacts to your changes

State is an object that is directly tied to rendering the component. The reason why you can't change State directly with say this.state.foo='bar' is that React would have no way of knowing that it needed to re-render the component if you did that. Thus there is a setState method to change the state, which under the hood calls the render function of your component.
Therefore, if you have some data that has nothing to do with rendering the component, you don't want to put it into state, as setting its value will cause unnecessary renders to occur. If you're using class components, you can just put that data on the class directly: this.foo='bar'.

Basically yes! Two examples might be: A - holding a list of items (shopping list, or todo items) that are rendered directly to the UI, that are subject to change as the user adds and removes items. B - a value that determines whether or not you want something to show up on your UI, for example, you might have a state value called 'showNavbar' that is either true or false, depending on whether you want the user to see a navigation bar.
I hope that helps make sense of it in a basic way :)

We use the state for rendering the UI.
Also, I think the State allows React components to change their output over time in response to user actions, network responses, and anything else, without violating this rule.
For this, We use the 'setState' method.
setState() is the only legitimate way to update state after the initial state setup

List of events, that cause React component to re-render

I want to know, what are events, that cause React component to re-render.
I couldn't find full list anywhere, it'd be great if someone writes the list of events, that cause React component to re-render.

I always find the following reference website helpful.
http://reactcheatsheet.com/
Filter by lifecycle events, and you can see the places where setState will trigger a rerender.
__
Update: you now have to filter by "misc"

React component is re-rendered when setState() is called or when props change. You can also force re-render with forceUpdate()
https://reactjs.org/docs/react-component.html#forceupdate
By default, when your component's state or props change, your
component will re-render. However, if these change implicitly (eg:
data deep within an object changes without changing the object itself)
or if your render() method depends on some other data, you can tell
React that it needs to re-run render() by calling forceUpdate().

Possible to only re-render one prop of component in react-native, not whole component?

I know that it is possible to re-render only one component (instead of whole DOM) using shouldComponentUpdate(), but is it possible to only re-render one PROP of one component? In one instance in my app I do not want the entire component to update, but only a specific prop that is being changed.

You probably can't do that because that's not how it's supposed to work. The component is updated in order to reflect all changes made to its state and props. The best way to get around this would be to just not update the props being passed by the parent component.
Alternatively, you could also use the state to hold the values you don't want to be updated, and set these values in the constructor of the component.

top-down rendering - how to solve state in pre-populated input fields

Scenario: I have an react app which has its state in flux store (async load), passing data down to Root component which is passing data to its children and so on.
now: text input field, nested somewhere deep down in node tree, has its initial value done in getInitialState from a prop (the prop has been passed down), and on onChange event its state is set to typed value. So far book example.
Now let's 'submit' the form, action is triggered, ajax call has been made, data came back changed, passed to the store which emits event to Root component, the node tree gets re-rendered again, BUT of course getInitialState is not triggered again, and the field still has the last typed in value.
I don't think I want to initiate the whole action-store-root-children-reRender loop on every single key stroke, right?
Question: How do I get the input's state to be fresh from the passed prop (the store one)
THOUGHT: Hmm, I can actually tell when I'm initiating re-render from the ROOT, by setting a store 'flag' in ROOT's componentWillUpdate() then setting it back in componentDidUpdate() - then all the child components can know if it is ROOT intent to re-render or just a parent non-store initiated change.

Keep the form's values in the store instead, and don't using any local component state at all. When the form is edited trigger actions to update the store and re-render the app.

First of all what you are doing is an antipattern. State should not be set equal to props. Your props should not be state.
The React docs are pretty clear on updating props.
Check out this link: https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/component-specs.html
componentWillReceiveProps(object nextProps)
You should think about implementing this lifecyclemethod it will help you to be aware of prop changes.
But please think about seperating props and state - there is a reason why React Framework has both. But that is a different topic.
EDIT1:
If you want to update your stores state then call a flux action that referes to the corresponding store and pass in the props as payload inside of the lifecyclemethod above.
Hope this helped.